Sonic Lightning
by yasha012
Summary: Not long after Chris goes home for the last time, Sonic disappears. He isn't seen again for six years. When he's finally found, he's not the same hedgehog everyone used to know. What worse, he no longer seems to remember anyone. With a war brewing on the horizon, can Tails and the others regain their lost ally? Or will they lose him and their entire world forever? (T to be safe)
1. Prologue: Return of Meterex

**Title: Sonic Lightning**

**Description: ****Not long after Chris goes home for the last time, Sonic disappears. He isn't seen again for six long years. When he's finally found, he's faster and stronger than ever! But he's no longer that goofy, care-free hedgehog they used know. What's worse, he doesn't seem to remember any of them! With a war brewing on the horizon, can Tails and the others regain their lost ally? Or will they lose him and they're entire world forever?**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: ****The characters may be a bit OOC, and I apologize for that. I'm trying to keep them in character, but I haven't watched Sonic or played any Sonic games in a few years, so… **

"I've got you now, Sonic!" Eggman shouted as his robot attacked again.

'_That's what he thinks!' _Sonic thought cockily.

He dodged to the side, easily avoiding the robot's missiles. The robot soon attacked again, this time attempting to crush him with its giant metal fist. Sonic dodged again, waiting until the very last second to do so. Eggman laughed loudly.

"Getting a bit cocky, eh Sonic?" He shouted. "BumbleBot! Attack!" (A/N He called it that because its colors are like that of a bee. -_-)

Now it was Sonic's turn to laugh.

"_BumbleBot_? Couldn't you have come up with a better name?" He asked with a grin.

"That's beside the point!" Eggman shouted angrily.

He grabbed a remote and smashed the giant red button with his fist. Instantly the robot became faster and stronger. With a careless shrug, Sonic dodged to the side to avoid yet another missile before using his Homing Attack to through the robot. Eggman was furious.

"You broke my robot!" He shouted angrily.

Sonic shrugged again.

"Guess you shouldn't have tried to kidnap Cream again, huh?" He replied simply.

"I'll teach you, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

'_Uh-oh.'_

Sonic watched the floor in front of him open up. Slowly, a giant purplish-black robot rose up out of the opening. Sonic's eyes widened in shock.

"That's… A Meterex!" Sonic exclaimed. (A/N Did I spell that right?)

Eggman grinned evilly.

"That's right, Sonic. It seems someone has done his homework."

"How did you…?"

Eggman smirked.

"It's simple, really. I simply reprogrammed it."

He pulled out another remote.

"Now prepare to die!" He shouted as he pushed a button.

The Meterex suddenly turned on, and without warning, it attacked. The Meterex was much more powerful than Eggman's own robot. It was faster and stronger, and it was able to fight on its own. Eggman didn't have to control its every moment.

It was a long and hard battle. Eggman was unconscious, having been knocked out by flying debris. His entire base was destroyed., and Sonic and the Meterex were still fighting. Sonic was getting tired, and both he and the Meterex were badly injured.

"Surrender." The Meterex commanded in its monotonous, robotic voice.

"Never." Sonic replied, panting slightly.

"Then you leave me no choice."

The large white gem on its chest (A/N It looks like a large diamond or something) changed colors and began to glow. It was now blood-red, and the entire area was flooded with its eerie light.

"Die."

That was the last thing Sonic heard before the Meterex unleashed its attack and everything went black.


	2. Six Years Later

"Well, I think that's it." Tails said as he closed the hood of Cream's mother's car. "It should run fine now."

She smiled at him.

Thank you, Tails." She said sweetly. "Would you like to come inside?"

He smiled and shook his head.

"No thanks. I should get home." He said. "Cosmo's probably waiting for me."

She smiled knowingly at him. They all knew how much he'd missed her. Cosmo had, much to everyone's happiness and relief, come back to life. No one knew how or when. Not even her. He'd found her unconscious in the woodsand taken her home. He nursed her back to health, and now she was doing fine. Tikal too had come back to them. He knew that her return had something to do with the Master Emerald but honestly, he didn't know the full story.

"Alright. See you later, dear." She said.

He waved at her before flying away using his twins tails. When he got home, he was surprised to find that Cosmo wasn't back from gathering strawberries with Amy yet. He shrugged it off. He knew she was safe. He had no reason to worry. After putting all his tools away, he flew away again. This time, he was headed for Angel Island. It was nearly noon by the time he reached the island. He got there just in time to see Rouge flying away. She seemed frustrated, maybe even angry.

_'She must have tried to steal the emerald again.'_ He thought.

As he got closer, he began to hear Knuckles and Tikal talking.

"What did she mean by that?" Tikal asked.

"I don't know." Knuckles replied. "She could've easily been lying."

"That's true, but... What if she wasn't?" Tikal asked.

"I don't know." Knuckles said again.

Tails landed next to him.

"Hi guys." He said.

"Hey." Knuckles replied.

"So how's the emerald been?" Tails asked, looking at the giant green emerald that had once powered his ship. "Is it still acting up?"

"Well, it's stopped flashing for now." Knuckles said, glancing at the Master Emerald. "But it's still releasing a ton of energy pulses."

"Sometimes we can feel them passing through our bodies and the land." Tikal added. "I can't figure out why, though. It's reacting to something, we just don't know what."

Tails though hard for a moment before speaking.

"Mind if I take a look?" He asked.

Knuckles hesitated for a moment before relenting.

"Fine. Just be careful with it." He said.

"Of course." Tails agreed.

He walked over to it and slowly examined it. After many long minutes, he walked back over to them.

"I'm not sure, but... It seems like it might be reacting to some kind of new power." He said. "Like it did when Tikal and Cosmo returned."

"But it was never this strong." Knuckles pointed out.

"But if he's right, then that must mean someone powerful has appeared somewhere." Tikal replied.

Knuckles just shrugged. Tails was quiet for a long moment before speaking up again.

"What were you guys talking about earlier?" He asked.

The two Echidnas (A/N did I spell that right?) exchanged a glance.

"We were... Talking about something Rouge told us." Tikal said slowly. "We don't know if she was telling the truth or not."

"What did she say?" Tails asked.

"You may want to ask _her_ that." Knuckles said.

"Why?" Tails asked in confusion.

"She'll be able to explain herself better than we can." Knuckles replied.

"Well... Okay. I'll ask her, I guess." Tails replied. "See you guys later."

They waved goodbye to him as he flew off, hoping to see Rouge on his way back home. He was disappointed when he didn't. When he walked inside his home, he was very startled.

"Heya, Tails." Said a familiar voice.

"Wah!" Tails cried, jumping in fright. "Rouge! Don't _do_ that!"

She laughed out loud.

"Sorry. I just couldn't resist." She said, still laughing a bit.

"Are you here as an ally or an enemy?" Tails asked suspiciously.

He could never tell with her. Sometimes she was a friend, sometimes she was a foe. It was difficult to tell which she was sometimes.

"I suppose I'm an ally this time, though I'd like to say I'm neither." She replied with a sigh. "Switching alliances all the time is getting pretty boring."

"Why are you here?" Tails asked.

"My my, someone's impatient." Rouge replied.

Upon seeing his expression, she relented.

"Alright, you win." She said. "I'm here because I'm hoping that you'll believe me. Ol' Knucky sure didn't."

Tails walked over to the table where she was sitting and sat down across from her.

"I'm listening." He said simply.

Rouge nodded before beginning her story.

"It's about Eggman. And... it's also about Sonic."

That instantly caught his attention.

"What do you know?" He demanded.

She held her hand up, silently telling him to be patient. He reluctantly relented and she continued.

"First of all, you need to know what happened that day." She said. "You're aware that Eggman tried to Kidnap Cream then, right?"

Tails nodded.

"As usual, Sonic thwarted his plans. Needless to say, Eggman was furious. He threatened to come back and try again later to kidnap her and hold her for ransom. Sonic went after him to prevent that from happening."

Tails nodded. Everyone knew about that. It was the last time anyone ever saw him.

"There was the usual fight between Sonic and one of Eggman's crazy robots." She continued. "He defeated it, of course. But Eggman had another robot Tails, and you're not going to believe what it was."

When he was silent, she continued.

"It was a Meterex."

His eyes widened in shock.

"He'd tapped in a Meterex database in the past." She explained. "When he did, he stole plans on how to program a special, new kind of Meterex that's unlike anything we've ever fought before. These special Meterex harnessed the power of special, unidentified gems that are embedded in their chests like Sonic and Shadow do with the Chaos Emeralds."

Before Tails had a chance to say or ask anything, she continued.

"You all saw the blast that day, didn't you?" She asked. "The one with that eerie red light."

Tails nodded.

"That was from the Meterex. It's final attack destroyed Eggman's island, and both the Meterex and Sonic vanished."

She sighed.

"That's all I know, really." She said, standing up. "But there's one more thing I need to tell you."

Tails looked at her curiously.

"Keep an eye on the emerald" She said simply.

Without another word, she walked out. Not long afterward, Cosmo came home with two full baskets of bright red strawberries. Tails told her everything Rouge had told him, and she thought carefully for a moment before speaking.

"It seems possible that a Meterex could draw power from a gem. They tried to do it with the Chaos Emeralds." She said.

"Yeah, but how could they just disappear like that?" Tails asked.

"I don't know." Cosmo replied. "But maybe Eggman does."

"There's no way I'm asking him." Tails said firmly.

"I never said you needed to." She replied. "But it might be a good idea for you to."

Without another word, she went over to her strawberries and began to wash them, leaving Tails with his thoughts.


	3. My Old Friend

Several days passed, and Tails continued to think about what Cosmo had said. _Did_ Eggman know something? _Should _he go talk to his enemy, despite all the risks? And what about everything Rouge had said? How much of that was actually true? How much was he willing to believe? And what about the last thing she'd said?

_"Keep an eye on the emerald." _

_'What did she mean by that?' _He wondered, _'Was she talking about the Master Emerald? She must have been... The Chaos Emeralds disappeared when Sonic did.'_

He sighed heavily as he continued to work on his latest invention.

_'I wish I knew what to do.'_

Just then, Amy burst into his workshop, causing him to jump with fright.

"Tails, come quick! It's the emerald!" She exclaimed with a mixture of worry and fear in her eyes.

Within minutes (thanks to the X-Tornado's speed) they made it to the island. Everyone else was already there, standing around it. Rouge and Shadow were there too. Rouge gave him a serious look.

"I told you." She said simply.

He decided to ignore her and quickly went over to Knuckles and Tikal. He didn't have time to deal with her at the moment.

"What's happening?" He asked.

Before either Echidna had a chance to respond, the emerald flashed brightly and the entire island shook violently. Everyone stumbled and several of them (Tails included) lost their balance and fell.

"What's happening to the emerald?" Tails asked again once he regained his feet, forced to yell over the fierce wind.

They were all more than surprised when Shadow replied.

"It's opening a portal." He said simply.

"Does that mean Chris is coming back?" Cosmo asked.

"I don't think so." Tails replied. "A _lot_ of time has passed in his world."

"If it's not Chris, then... Who is it?" Amy asked.

No one replied. No one knew the answer. The emerald flashed again and the island shook once more. Tails got as close as he dared and began to examine it. His eyes widened and he jumped back just in time to avoid being hit by something very large that shot out of the portal. His eyes were wide with shock.

_'It's... A Meterex...' _

"_Run_!" Amy yelled.

Really, what other choice did they have? No one was prepared for battle. Especially not with _this_... Tails couldn't move. He couldn't take his eyes off of it. That Meterex... How was it here? Hadn't they beaten the Meterex? Cosmo had _died_ to defeat them! How was it still here?! Slowly, he looked up. His breath caught in his throat when he saw it. The gem embedded in its chest. Just like the one that Sonic had... Tails was snapped out of his shock when he heard Amy's voice.

"Tails, what are you doing?! Run!" She yelled from where she was quite a ways away.

Too little, too late. The Meterex had already seen him. It turned toward him and prepared to attack him with some sort of laser. There was no time anyone to react. He closed his eyes, preparing himself for the lethal blow. It never came. His eyes snapped open when he heard a very familiar attack. (A/N CUE THE EPIC MUSIC!) He was in complete shock. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing. Or rather, _who_ he was seeing. It wasn't until he heard Amy's excited scream that he finally came back to reality and faced the truth.

"SONIC!"

A small smile spread across Tails's face.

_'It's him... It's really him... It's Sonic...'_

Seemingly with minimal effort, Sonic broke the Meterex's gem with his Homing Attack. The now suddenly lifeless Meterex fell to the ground with an earth-shattering crash. But the battle was far from over. More Meterex poured out of the portal, so many that Tails lost count. Without thinking, he jumped into the fight. He climbed to his feet and ran to the X-Tornado as fast as he could. He quickly boarded it and took off, shooting at their enemies from the air. Amy (who thankfully had her hammer with her) also jumped into the fray, though she was clearly more focused on protecting Cream and Cheese. While they were definitely older, they still weren't strong enough to defend themselves very well yet. Knuckles and Tikal fought side by side, working together like a perfect team. Shadow and Rouge also fought side by side, though they seemed to mostly be ignoring each other. Cosmo seemed unsure of what to do at first, but she quickly made a choice and ran over to Amy to help her out. Sonic fought on his own like a lone wolf, taking out even the strongest Meterex with apparent ease. It was amazing how strong he'd gotten. And he was so fast... Faster than he'd ever been before. But how? How had he gotten so powerful? Not only that, but if he was so much stronger that the Meterex, then... why was he so badly injured? Even worse than that, he seemed to be completely ignoring everyone. Amy, Cosmo, Knuckles, Cream and Cheese, all of his old friends... He didn't seem to notice any of them. Deciding to think about that later, Tails focused himself on the fight. He made a wide U-turn and continued to shoot the Meterex. Following Sonic's earlier example, he aimed at the gems on their chests. If he was right, then those gems were their weak points. He just hoped that he was right. Otherwise, he wasn't sure that they had a chance of winning this fight.

**A/N By the way, if anyone finds any typos, please let me know. I have a tendency to make a lot of errors, so... yeah. Also, sorry that this one's so short. I'll try to make the next one longer!**


	4. The Search Begins

With a burst of speed, Sonic rushed at his opponent. He readied himself for the attack. As soon as he was close enough, he leaped into the air. He curled into a ball and began to spin. Before the Metarex even had a chance to react, he crashed into its gem. Within seconds, he broke through it. The Metarex fell to the ground, dead in an instant.

Tails landed the X-Tornado and everyone lowered there guard. The battle was over. They had won. With a huge smile plastered on his face, Tails jumped out of the cockpit of his plane. He turned to Sonic, ready to congratulate him as he always did.

Sonic was frowning deeply. _This_ fight was over, but the bigger battle was far from over. In a flash, he was gone.

The smile slowly faded from Tails's face. The area became deathly silent. Tails looked to the sky, a troubled look on his face. His mind was screaming the same question as one else's.

_'Where did he go...?'_

* * *

After a long while, everyone headed to Tails's house. They were soon joined by more friends. Vector, Charmy, and Espio had witnessed the battle and rushed over, soon followed by Silver and Blaze, who had come from their time for a visit like they usually did. They were soon updated on the situation and everyone began to talk.

"Where do you think he went?" Blaze asked.

"Who knows. He could be anywhere by now." Knuckles replied.

Though he sounded nonchalant, they all knew that he was worried about his old rival and friend just as much as they were.

"Ooh, this is just like Sonic!" Amy exclaimed angrily. "He never even stops to say hello!"

No one said anything. They all knew how temperamental she got about things when Sonic was involved, and they'd all learned to ignore it for the most part. Still, Tails couldn't help but feel that she was completely missing the real problem. Sonic was badly hurt, missing again, and possibly being hunted by more Metarex. Didn't she realize that?

"Should we go look for him?" Cosmo asked.

Tails thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"No... We'd never be able to find him. He's too fast for us."

Suddenly, a light turned on in his head.

"Unless..."

He turned to Shadow and Silver. Shadow immediately had a suspicious look on his face. (A/N By the way, I forgot to mention this earlier, but Shadow's a good guy now, and he's their friend. He's also still "friends" with Rouge most of the time.)

"Do you think _you_ guys can look?" Tails asked. "You're the only ones who're fast enough to stand a chance of finding him."

Silver agreed, but Shadow hesitated.

"_Please_?"

With a sigh, he gave in. After cheering briefly with the others, Tails pulled a coup of their old communicators (A/N You know, those watch things from the show) from out of the X-Tornado.

"Here, you can use this to contact us if you find him or run into any trouble." Tails said with a smile.

They nodded and wordlessly put them on. Tails grabbed his own communicator and put it on as well. After making sure that they all worked and them how to use it, Tails let them take off. He just hoped that they'd be able to find him. Because if they couldn't do it, more likely than not, _no one_ could. After all, they were the only ones who could even come close to Sonic's speed.

_'If they can't do it, no one can.'_ Tails thought. _'But... What if even _they_ can't?'_

He sighed softly, a mixture of worry and hope raging inside his heart.

_'Oh, Sonic... Why'd you have to take off like that? Why didn't you even acknowledge us? Do we really not matter to you anymore?'_

He shook his head vigorously, shoving those thoughts aside.

_'No! I refuse to believe that! There has to be some other reason!'_

With another sigh, he looked up at the night sky, his sad eyes trained on the full moon.

_'I just wish I knew what it was.'_


End file.
